Dominic Thornely is in charge of a young New South Wales that will this season defend their first-class title without their top batsman and their leading bowler
Brydon Coverdale05-Oct-2008
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It’s only natural for the previous season’s champions to start the next Sheffield
Shield campaign as favourites. But what happens when that team loses its
leading run scorer and its top wicket taker? New South Wales are about to
find out as they aim to go back to back in 2008-09 with a side short on experience
but long on talent.Last summer they relied heavily on Simon Katich, whose record tally of 1506
Pura Cup runs was nearly three times greater than that of any of his team-mates.
Doug Bollinger carried the attack with 45 wickets and headed the competition
list despite missing four games. Both men are in India with the Test squad
– along with another six Blues – and there is every chance Australian commitments
will keep them away from the state scene for much of the season.In the absence of the usual on-field leaders, Katich and Brad Haddin, the
acting captain is Dominic Thornely. An indication of the fresh group he will
be guiding came with the Blues’ announcement of their squad for the first
one-day match of the season: eight of the 12 men have played fewer than ten
FR Cup games. It will be a similar story in the first-class competition.”We’ve addressed the fact that we’ve lost someone who’s made 1000 runs for
us,” Thornely said of Katich’s impending absence. “We lost Phil Jaques last
year, with every loss of a player there’s an opportunity for another.”It still may well be a case of the baby Blues go back to back. For us to
do that these younger guys are going to have to step up. If we can get 20
to 30% more from some of these guys that could be enough.”Among Thornely’s “baby Blues” are the opener Phillip Hughes, 19, who made
a century in last season’s Pura Cup final, and the top-order batsman Peter
Forrest, 22, who like Hughes toured India with Australia A last month. There
is also Steven Smith, 19, an allrounder who combines top-order batting and
legspin, and Moises Henriques, 21, who spent time with the Australia squad
in Darwin this year.While the Sheffield Shield – the traditional name is back after a decade
as the Pura Cup – is the major prize, New South Wales are also desperate
to improve their limited-overs efforts. Last season they finished on the
bottom of the table as Tasmania claimed the FR Cup and shrinking the gulf
between the Blues’ four-day and one-day form is one of Thornely’s goals.
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Part of their one-day plan will include a heavy focus on spin. Three slow
bowlers were named in their first FR Cup squad – Smith, Nathan Hauritz and
Steve O’Keefe – and with Beau Casson also keen to push for further international opportunities, there could soon be a return to the days of spinners dominating
at the SCG. That’s without even considering Stuart MacGill, who is yet
to announce whether he will be available for state selection having retired
from international cricket.”This year you’ll see a lot of spin bowling done by New South Wales,” Thornely
said. “We’ve just played some practice games where I used four spin bowlers.
Five spinners in a one-day match is not unrealistic this year. Spin bowling
is where it is at for us at the moment.”Thornely has filled in as the state’s captain before, although this season
it will be almost a full-time role if Katich keeps making Test runs.
He describes himself as the kind of leader who will freely allow his men
to play their natural games. It is a method that looks brilliant when it
works but can also backfire spectacularly. In his first match as
the stand-in skipper, Thornely presided over New South Wales’ all-time
lowest Pura Cup total of 53 against Tasmania.”I was told ten minutes before the match that I was captain, Simon [Katich]
pulled out with a broken thumb,” Thornely said. “Our wicketkeeper was also
in doubt with an injury and wasn’t even at the ground yet, so I was literally
walking out with a team sheet of ten players.”I looked at Simon after the innings and said ‘I think you can have the captaincy
back’. But he predicted I’d get a hundred in the second innings and we’d
give them a challenge and that’s what happened. I look back on that game
and it gave me a lot of belief as a captain.”In that 2006-07 season, Tasmania went on to win the title. Thornely expects
the major challengers this summer to be Victoria, who reached the finals
in all three formats last season. He also believes Queensland will bounce
back following a rare bad year in 2007-08, when they finished last in the
Pura Cup. Both the Bushrangers and the Bulls have gained
important players during the off-season.The domestic summer kicks off on Wednesday with a one-day
game between Western Australia and New South Wales at the WACA. The Sheffield
Shield campaign begins on Friday when the Warriors host the Blues and
Tasmania travel to Queensland. Thornely knows that this season more than
any other, finding form quickly will be critical.”We play 75% of our season by Christmas,” he said. “We need to get on a roll
and get into some good form. If we don’t hit the ground running then come
November-December, half our season is over and there’ll be some real catching
up to do.”
